


Life Goes On

by TheCrazyFriend



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2019-09-29 21:32:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17211338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCrazyFriend/pseuds/TheCrazyFriend
Summary: Set four years after the events of Life is Strange





	1. Transformation

If anyone were to be asked about Max Caulfield, they would all say the same thing. That Max Caulfield had disappeared soon after witnessing the death of her closest friend, potentially even a lover, a girl called Chloe Price. If anyone were to be asked to describe Max Caulfield, then words like 'shy’, 'introverted’, 'hipster' and 'nerd' were commonly whispered. Max Caulfield had disappeared October twelfth, 2013 and for all intents and purposes was considered to be a cold case by all police departments including Arcadia Bay’s, the only people still searching for her were a few former members of a high school club, the Vortex Club. Since the tragic suicide of a former classmate, Kate Marsh, the Vortex Club's leader, a young woman named Victoria Chase who was formerly Blackwell Academy’s Queen Bitch turned the club around so thoroughly that the club was saved from the pages of history as the Principal, Raymond Wells had ordered it disbanded in light of Kate's suicide. Victoria Chase had vowed never to let another person face Kate's fate and as such, she and a small posse of former students hadn't given up on their search to find Max. They were, in fact, the only people who hadn’t given up and through their U-turn and selfless actions, the Vortex Club was saved

Maxine Elizabeth Caulfield-Price had appeared the same day that Max Caulfield had disappeared, she was not a shy hipster or any of the other words people who knew her would have used to describe her. She stepped out of a motel near to Arcadia Bay having left Arcadia Bay in the early hours of the morning the day after she had attended Chloe's funeral and picked up a few of Chloe's things she had wanted to keep or had been bequeathed by either Chloe in her will or by Joyce on Chloe's behalf. She had considered taking a stand against the hypocrisy of the ever incompetent Raymond Wells and any of the others at the funeral who had hated on Chloe until her death but had ultimately decided not to rock the boat and to silently honor her friend, at least not until the following morning. She had fished Chloe's abandoned sharpies out of a box in Chloe's room when she was picking up some of Chloe's stuff from the Madsen household. Most of Chloe's belongings had become Max's but she trusted the Madsens to look after those belongings until such a time when she settled down. Before fleeing Arcadia Bay, Max spent one last night in Chloe's bedroom, one last night surrounded by the familiar smell of marijuana, smoke and Chloe's shampoo. In the early hours of the morning she clambered out the window and drove Chloe's truck to the motel where she changed and spiced up her look to complete her transformation to Maxine Elizabeth Caulfield-Price. She had discussed adopting the Price name with Joyce and the mourning woman had immediately agreed, happy to agree with Max's desire to honor Chloe's memory though Max never completed the paperwork. Immediately afterward she drove back to Blackwell, used Chloe's Sharpies and her rewind to break into the principal’s office once again in order to decorate it in the most disrespectful way possible. Maxine left a huge scathing opinion behind her in the form of intricate artwork sprawled over the walls of the principal’s office, several things that Wells could be blamed for had found their way onto the wall as well as a sketch of Wells himself as a dickhead. Maxine then walked the short distance to the bathroom where Chloe died alone and angry at the world to draw another sprawling artwork commemorating her fallen best friend. A huge and beautifully complex artwork consisting of blue butterflies, a doe, a skull, and several ravens were permanently sketched on to the walls. She also threw in one of Chloe's quotes across the stall doors, 'EVERYBODY LIES. NO EXCEPTIONS.’ And her new pseudonym, 'Bluebeard'.

Even three years on, Maxine had kept the look she had created for herself in a motel bathroom. She had pleaded with the person on the front desk to use their bathroom then, in the privacy of the bathroom, changed into her new outfit and changed her hair. Maxine emerged with her hair half shaven and dyed in a rainbow, with new punkier clothes completing her transformation into Maxine. On her way out, Maxine handed over a ten dollar bill in thanks. After she returned to Blackwell to leave her homage to Chloe, she left Arcadia Bay and never looked back. Maxine drove the truck to Los Angeles and began to make a life for herself, a life that had two distinct halves, the do-gooder persona of The ‘Blue Butterfly' and the anarchist 'Bluebeard'. The 'Blue Butterfly’ went out of her way to save lives that were in danger and unable to be saved by regular means while 'Bluebeard’ tagged places, took down capitalist extortionists and did other acts that stuck a middle finger up at authority figures. Maxine’s name was only known by a few people, the previous owner of her penthouse was one such person as was her agent. Maxine continued with her hobby of photography but the agent’s name was always the one that took the credit even though Maxine got most of the money minus a cut that the agent took. Maxine’s excuse for remaining anonymous was that of Jefferson. 

Unbeknownst to everyone else, she had visited Mark Jefferson in jail and beat him to death several times over for what he had done to Rachel, Kate, her and by extension, Chloe. Once she had her fill of revenge she rewound to remove all trace of her presence and left Jefferson as a bloody mutilated mess. Everyone else thought that if Jefferson was to escape or be released, he would first and foremost go after the former student for causing his downfall

Maxine's home life would be thought of as a chaotic mess to reflect her apparent love of chaos and disorder but her penthouse was reasonably organized, a safe space for her to unwind away from her hero and anarchic personas. An elderly bunny sat in a large cage on a table beside her couch, her desk was an organized chaos of photographs and she had a top of the range computer connected to a very expensive looking printer for printing photographs to order. She had several shelves where a number of her most prized possessions were kept, most of which had been Chloe's, among which were a doe snow globe, a hand made ashtray and on the walls were a number of pictures of two young girls along with several from 'the week that never was'. Maxine also had a large TV and a very comfortable couch to relax on. Maxine's king size bed was particularly messy, she only used blankets that had belonged to the punk even though they had long since stopped smelling of the punk though she occasionally lit up a cigarette or even a joint three years on, just to keep that part of Chloe's smell in her life.  
All in all, Maxine was mostly happy with her life regardless of the ever-present gaping hole that had been left by the absence of the girl whose surname she had taken


	2. Earthquake

Maxine was in Los Angeles and settled into her new life four years after Chloe's death, she was happily tucked away in the corner of a coffee shop near her penthouse when she felt a rumble beneath her feet. _Earthquake!!_ She was on her feet immediately and on the move despite knowing that most people were well versed in earthquake safety. There were usually a few caught by surprise by the unpredictable ground tremors. Unfortunately, a brazier near a gas station has been knocked over by the sudden quake, the five homeless people stood around it for warmth had been knocked off their feet before they could smother the fire. The brazier rolled towards the gas station and before Maxine could even take a single step there was a massive whomping noise, the entire gas station went up in one giant fireball having been fuelled by the underground tanks that had been ruptured in the initial tremor. The fireball engulfed the entirety of the forecourt and the store, as well as the two nearest buildings in a fraction of a second and frantic screaming could be heard from the families trapped in the store as it burned.  
Maxine swore quietly and extended her right arm, feeling her grip on the otherwise imperceptible passing of time and concentrated with all her might on the smooth flow of time that passed between her fingers. The flow suddenly stopped as her knuckles went white, she observed the frozen scene around her, trying to work out how best to stop the fire.

Several seconds later in Maxine time she was stood by the brazier and had dumped the contents of a water bottle on it, just in time as the earthquake struck a fraction of a second later. The brazier fell over and rolled into the gas station but as it was extinguished there was no fireball. “Phew,” Maxine sighed, grateful that she had been able to stop it. Ignoring the angry protesting from the homeless folk Maxine continued on her way, the iridescent blue butterfly on her tee glowing under the moon. Maxine rewound every few minutes while making her way towards the epicenter of the earthquake, a mall close to the center of the city that was, as a result of the earthquake, close to collapse. “Shit” Maxine pushed her way past the gathering crowds and headed into the mall which was thankfully mostly evacuated. One woman stood at outside an elevator trying desperately to force the doors open.  
“Miss! Miss!” the woman yelled, “you shouldn't be in here, everyone has to evacuate”  
“What's going on?” Maxine ignored the woman and instead pressed forward in her own investigation. “What's going on?!” she replied, more urgently  
“There's a child trapped in the elevator!”  
“Oh, shit!” Maxine raised her hand again, preparing to rewind once again  
“Miss, what the hell are you doing?!”  
“Please, shut up!” Maxine exclaimed. The woman shut her mouth in surprise

Maxine focused on the strands of time once again and rewound. The woman walked backward away from the elevator door and Maxine managed to rewind far enough so that the elevator was still on its emergency brakes. Maxine had blood running down her chin by the time she had to freeze time in order to rescue the girl, the emergency brakes failed and the elevator was hurtling towards the ground. She froze time as the elevator passed the floor she was on and quickly darted into the elevator, grabbed the young girl and threw herself back out as a splitting pain tore itself through her head and she was forced to let go of her hold on time. She screamed in pain and stumbled forward then collapsed onto her elbows and knees with the girl safely in her arms. “Take... Her” Maxine groaned once again, her face covered in blood from the overexertion caused by rewinding excessively then freezing time.

“Miss...? Miss are you okay?” The woman had run up to her while a pixie blonde ran up to the child and pulled her close.  
“I was so worried about you!! Please don't ever _ever_ run off like that again!!” The pixie blonde scolded the child who was already trying to pull free of the pixie blonde to return to the woman who saved her life. “No, no you can't go to her, she needs a... rest?” The pixie blonde had finally caught sight of the butterfly on Maxine’s tee. “Oh my god... You're... You're the...” Maxine quickly put her hand over the woman's mouth to try to shut her up. To the pixie blonde, it was as if she had jumped from where she had collapsed to where the pixie blonde was. The pixie blonde took a few seconds to get over the shock of seeing Maxine move the way she had and by that time the child had her arms around Maxine and was snuggled cozily into her side. “You're the Blue Butterfly, aren't you?” the pixie blonde whispered and Maxine nodded slowly. “I'm sorry,” she started trying to prize the young girl off of Maxine, “she's not usually like this, in fact, she’s a little ball of chaos most of the time”  
“It’s... Fine” Maxine replied somewhat contentedly, she hadn't even realized that a hug from a child could feel like that  
“She seems to like you... She’s quite a tricky child to please” the pixie blonde looked at the child and then at Maxine clearly deep in thought. “Have you ever thought of fostering children, Miss...? I don't think I ever got your name”  
“Never offered it”  
“Sorry, yeah I guess as the Blue Butterfly you keep your name a secret. Anyway, this kid seems to have taken a liking to you, you’d do well with kids since this one seems to have settled down in your arms without any fuss at all. She's a foster kid and I'm her social worker, Vic”  
Maxine looked closer at the pixie blonde while wiping her nose of excess blood. “Excuse me, do I know you?”  
“I doubt it”  
“Nevermind...” the child nuzzled up to Maxine some more, soon dozing off in her arms


	3. Vic

“Come with us, we’re gonna need a lot of ice cream and I owe you a lot,” the woman called Vic asked Maxine. She had an expectant smile on her face  
“I... I really can't”  
“Why not?” Vic's smile had quickly faded to a slight scowl, she never had gotten used to hearing the word 'no’, not even working as a social worker  
“Cos isn't there something about boundaries and so on when you're with the children you're responsible for?” Maxine indicated the child who was fast asleep in her arms  
“Currently, I'm her foster mom.” The blonde helped Maxine stand since her arms were wrapped around the sleeping child. “And I insist”  
“Wait... You are?” Maxine looked over at the blonde, she nodded once, “fine, fine.” _Not giving me much choice here..._  
“Yeah, she... She... Shit. She wasn't able to stay with her foster family anymore, they didn't want her”  
“Oh my god...!” Maxine could've sworn she felt her heart stop, _that poor kid!!_ “Why... Why wasn't she wanted anymore?” _Poor fucking kid_  
“They didn't say as much in so many words but... It was clear. She was just too wild for them, they tried but she took up too much of their time and was too uncontrollable”  
“That poor kid...” Maxine wiped her eyes of a few stray tears  
“That's what I mean by her being a wild child, she is pretty crazy”  
“But... It can't be that bad” Maxine replied, her mind drifting back four years to her friend, a friend that she still missed desperately  
“Trust me she's like this woman I used to know, this woman would jump on moving trains for a thrill... Things like that” Vic looked over her shoulder at Maxine who was sat in Vic’s back seat with the young girl leaned up against her, still fast asleep  
“Oh?”  
“Yeah, she was a bit of a wild girl. She had dyed hair and everything”  
“Vic...?” Maxine mouthed the word, _it can't be..._  
“She's a very lonely child with incredibly complex issues. Her attachment is literally fucked”  
“Poor thing...”  
“That's the first time I've ever seen her like that!” Vic indicated the child and seemed amazed that she was still completely relaxed and downright shocked that she was actually _asleep_ , in a stranger's arms no less  
“Well I understand that poor child’s anxiety issues” Maxine looked out of the window glumly “and I knew someone who had similar... Disruptive habits” she whispered  
“I ask again, have you ever thought of fostering? It seems you're a natural”  
“Sorry, I can't”  
“Oh yeah... Right. Blue Butterfly”  
Maxine nodded with some anxiety. “Yeah... It's a solitary life. This is, in fact, the longest conversation I've had with anyone in... Four years”  
“Holy shit...”  
“Mhm”

They lapsed into silence for several minutes while Vic navigated some traffic “So... How do you do what you do?”  
“I can't possibly explain, Vic. You wouldn't believe me even if I told you”  
“Try me” Vic narrowed her eyes, an action that was very reminiscent of someone Maxine used to know  
“VICTORIA?!” Maxine yelped in realization, the child in Maxine's arms stirred slightly but quickly settled down again with Maxine rubbing her back  
“Yep, that's my name?”  
“Like Victoria Chase of Chase Space?”  
“Uh yeah... That's my parents' place but yes” Victoria was dumbfounded that the person who claimed to be the Blue Butterfly knew _her_ of all people. “You know me?”  
“In a manner of speaking... Yeah”  
“Who... Who are you??”  
“Y’know what? I'm actually kinda glad it's this hard for someone to recognize me...”  
“You're freaking me out now... Please just tell me who you are for fuck’s sake!”  
“My name is... _Maxine_.” Since Victoria was driving, Maxine decided it was probably a better idea to tell her the truth, especially to avoid a panic attack  
“Max...ine? Max?! Max Caulfield?!” Victoria slammed on the breaks and veered off the road, causing several cars to swerve and accidentally disturbing the sleeping child with the violence of her driving  
“Actually, my name is Maxine, Maxine Elizabeth Caulfield-Price. It's Maxine, _never_ Max” Maxine explained while soothing the child back to sleep again  
Victoria just stared at her, completely lost for words


	4. Reunion

“Max...ine...? Where the hell have you been?” Victoria was staring at her in shock  
“I had to go” Max replied. “Had to get out of Arcadia Bay” _I couldn't stay in that hellhole for another second_  
“Because of what happened to Kari?”  
“It's Chloe!!” Max hissed  
“Okay, okay. Jesus.” _I guess I really ought to try and remember that_  
“I had to get out because if I stayed there I would've torn the entire fucking town apart!!” Max exclaimed. _Of course, I really could have done that if I wanted to..._  
“Whoa that's so not the timid hipster I used to know” Vic looked at Maxine in surprise  
“I'm serious, Victoria”  
“It's Vic now”  
“Fair enough”  
“What... What happened to you?”  
“I got fucked over, Vic” _Over and over and over again_  
“Maxine, you know that we weren't the closest when we were at Blackwell...”  
“Understatement of the century...”  
“Quite. Anyway, I regret the way I treated you back then and I want you to know that I'm here for you”  
“I know you do, Vic and thank you”  
“The way Kate ended her life...”  
“I know, Vic. Sadly, there was very little I could do to help her, the way she did it”  
“There was very little anyone could do”  
“I guess...” _I could've saved her with my rewind, if she hadn't bled out slowly over three hours_  
“Vic... There are things I can't tell you” Maxine hung her head  
“Maxine, what do you mean?”  
“It’s hard for me to talk about it”  
“It's okay, Maxine. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to”  
“Sorry, Vic”  
“Don't worry about it, Maxine”

The two women sat in silence for a good few moments then Maxine looked down at the brilliant blue eyes of the child settled in her arms. “Sweetie, how old are you?”  
The girl counted out on her fingers, “I'm four!! My birthday is in October, it's the seventh!”  
“Aww, you’re adorable!!” Maxine pulled the girl closer then looked back up at Vic. “She's not a wild child, Vic. What the hell were you talking about?”  
“Here, let me show you” Vic pulled out her phone and found a video which showed the same child who was cuddled up in Maxine's arms. In the video she was sprinting around throwing balled up Christmas wrapping paper at anyone within range. A few broken vases were visible in the background and Vic could be seen trying to catch the youngster. The girl jumped under the table to avoid Vic then sprinted away to lob another ball at someone else while the person holding the camera chuckled.  
“This one's quite a handful, Vic” the woman holding the camera was trying not to laugh  
“She sure is, Tay”  
“Poor Courtney is getting the brunt of... Hey!!” the woman exclaimed, a ball of wrapping paper had soared over the phone being used to record the event and hit Taylor in the face much to the amusement of the other two women whose laughter could be heard.  
“Don't encourage her you two, it's three hours past her bedtime” Vic complained  
“Aww, Vic is no fun!!” The camera had moved so that Courtney was visible as well. She was smirking and surrounded by a number of balls of wrapping paper when she was caught in the face by another ball of paper. “Hey!!”  
“It's time for bed now...” Vic had finally managed to grab the small girl and picked her up while she wriggled and shrieked

“See what I mean?” Vic smirked over at Maxine, the video has finished  
“Yeah...” Maxine held the young girl closer. “What's your name?”  
“It's... It's Chloe!!”  
Max's mouth fell open


	5. Polaroid

Max's mouth fell open. The trio were sat outside in a park near a sizable lake holding their ice creams, Chloe had two while Vic and Maxine had one each. “You needn't have got Chloe a second ice cream” Vic frowned sternly  
“I wanted to” Maxine replied firmly. _You're a fucking spoilsport, Vicky_  
“I still can't believe how much you've changed!” Vic shook her head  
“How did you know her, Vic?” Chloe inquired cautiously  
“Maxine went to my high school, Blackwell, Chloe. More than four years ago now”  
“Maxine?” Chloe turned her head and raised it to look at Maxine  
“Yes, Chloe...”  
“I... I know you!!” Chloe exclaimed  
“You... You do?” Vic sounded startled  
“Yeah!!!”  
Maxine and Vic exchanged bemused glances, “How do you know Maxine?”  
“I... I don't know” Chloe bowed her head in submission  
“Chloe, sweetheart?”  
“Yea?” the small girl’s voice was barely a whisper  
“It’s okay that you don't remember” At those words, Chloe shied away from Maxine nervously. “Chloe, sweetie, it's okay.” Maxine slowly opened her arms and knelt down in front of the bench she had been sat on, “come on, you were comfy in my lap weren't you?”  
The shy child nodded slightly and slowly moved back so Maxine could pick her up again. “You won't hurt me, Max?”  
“I wouldn't ever hurt you, Chloe” Maxine promised  
“Okay” Chloe nodded

“Hey, how come she gets away with calling you Max when I have to call you Maxine?” Vic asked in an incredulous tone  
“Hardly noticed. Wait, Chloe, what's your birthday?”  
“July?”  
“July the seventh, Maxine” Vic provided  
“Nine months on from...” Maxine's eyes widened  
“Maxine?”  
“She was... Created on the day she died, Vic!!”  
“I don't follow” Vic's eyebrows furrowed  
“Babies are in the womb for nine months, right?”  
“Right” Vic confirmed and nodded  
“And nine months back from July 2014 is...”  
“Oh my god!!” Vic, though she looked surprised soon scoffed. “She was conceived on the same day that Chloe died, so what??”  
“Don't you get it, Vic?”  
“’Fraid not”  
“Chloe... Can I show you something?”  
“Sure?”

Max pulled a Polaroid out from a hidden pouch in her wallet and held it out to the young girl. After a few seconds, Chloe gasped, the shock of recognition was enough to cause a physical reaction in the youngster, her eyes widened, filled with tears and her hand shot up to cover her mouth. “That's Chloe Price!! And you, Max Caulfield...”  
“Yea, that is me and Chloe”  
“I... Know that day, you both played pirates together, right?” Chloe asked quietly  
“Yes, Chloe”  
Vic's eyes widened and her gasp could be heard on the other side of the lake they were sitting near. “What... The... Fuck?!” Vic's eyebrows rose all the way up. _Language, Vic_


	6. Week of hell

“Chloe, how did you know that?”  
“I... I don't know, Vic” The young girl whispered to her social worker

Vic frowned in concern at the young girl she was looking after. She recalled what transpired four years before in that week that resulted in the discovery of a dead body, the deaths of two young women and the disappearance of a fourth. She remembered how everything kicked off with the disappearance of the one person Vic, who was at that time Victoria, envied beyond all others. She had envied Rachel Amber beyond her envy of Chloe Price and Maxine Caulfield whom she both envied, one because she was a strong independent young woman who refused to let the past beat her, not publicly at least, and the other because she had a quiet strength to her and was a fantastic photographer. She was most jealous of Rachel because she had _everything_ , an everything that included everything Victoria had and everything she had wanted as well. She had money, looks and the grades like Victoria. Furthermore, Rachel had a loving family that she didn't seem to appreciate, someone she could depend upon without using fear to control them in Chloe Price, true friends such as Dana, confidence and _happiness_ , not to mention a more-than-friendship with the great Mark Jefferson! Victoria had hated Rachel for having all that and more. When Rachel had disappeared, Victoria was quick to take advantage and become a fully fledged Queen Bitch as Rachel had been one of only two to ever stand up to her and keep her in check, the other had been expelled years beforehand and she had been ecstatic once Rachel was out of the way. Victoria didn't care to know the truth behind why Rachel’s relationship with her parents was strained. She didn't give a single flying fuck about her history of shared trauma with Chloe Price and couldn't see that Rachel was not happy, that she wore a mask to hide her true feelings from everyone, even Chloe who had loved her regardless. Vic felt sick thinking about how she had treated Rachel, Chloe and even Max who hadn't done anything to her.

*****

Rachel's body wasn't discovered until six months after her disappearance, after the only person who cared enough to still be looking for her had been murdered by Victoria's best friend. Victoria had known something was bothering Nathan yet she never really tried to help him out get him to talk about it, she hadn't known that he had been molded by Jefferson and had taken sick photographs of Chloe. She didn't give enough of a damn about Chloe to try to find out why she was out to get her friend. Victoria herself had attempted to confront Chloe about it to get her to leave Nathan alone but Chloe had just scoffed and muttered about Victoria 'not knowing anything’. Furious, Victoria had stormed back to her dorm where she spent at least twenty minutes wishing Chloe lived in the Prescott dorms so she could deface her room and trying to work out how she could make the blunette’s life hell, a tall order since she rarely saw the blunette.

All too soon though, she heard the bang that ended Chloe's life. She remembered being ushered back into Jefferson's classroom along with what felt like half the student population and watching out of the window as Nathan was led to a police cruiser in handcuffs, watching as a body bag was removed from the school and placed in an ambulance and watching as Max Caulfield was led out by two EMTs, covered in blood and staring blankly at whatever was in front of her. Six hours of terse pacing later and Max still hadn’t returned and they still hadn't been let out of Jefferson's classroom. Seven hours after the shooting, Principal Wells called an assembly to announce that Blackwell was temporarily closing during a police investigation into the death of Chloe Price and that all students were to return to their dorms or go home. At the time Victoria had merely blinked in shock.

The very next day Victoria heard screams and looked out of her window, seeing a body on the ground, a body that was unmoving and surrounded by blood leaking from two deep gashes in their arms as well as a few other places. Despite the damage, Victoria could still make out a half-formed bun of hair and with a nauseating sinking in her stomach, she knew what had happened. Kate Marsh, the girl she had been bullying about what had happened at a Vortex Club party had killed herself. Victoria, overcome with guilt, regret and hatred for herself, ran out of her room and straight into a security guard that had tried to get her to go back into her room only to be puked on. Victoria had taken the guard’s momentary distraction to run into the showers where she stayed, sobbing about what had happened to Chloe, what she had done to Kate and Rachel Amber’s fate. Principal Wells had been overheard by Taylor, talking about how Rachel had died. Taylor who had snuck out to try to get some marijuana from Frank Bowers to help herself, Victoria and Courtney relax. She hadn't been able to find Frank considering he had been arrested as an accomplice in Rachel Amber's murder but she relayed the information to Victoria who was still in her room at that time. Victoria, holed up in the farthest shower stall had immediately puked again and whimpered, curling in on herself as she remembered what she had done, how she had treated them and how she had reacted to Rachel's disappearance when she had been kidnapped, assaulted and murdered by her teacher, the guy she had loved “I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry.”

It was in those defining moments on on the worst days of her life that Victoria fundamentally changed and promised herself she'd do better. _For Rachel, for Chloe, for Max, for Kate_. Victoria didn't see Max again, she knew Max would be at Chloe's funeral but didn’t feel as if she deserved to be there and the very next day Max had vanished without a trace. Victoria knew that Max hadn't even comprehended that Kate had also died, one look at the girl’s despair was enough for even Victoria to realize that Max had totally dissociated from the world around her, that she was no longer there.

*****

“Vic?” Maxine shook her shoulder gently, trying to get her attention. “Vic?”  
“Mmmhm?” _Shit, how long was I out of it for?_  
“Are you okay, you've gone very quiet?”  
Vic turned to look at Maxine and nodded. Maxine was sat with Chloe on her lap, fast asleep. Vic's heart melted seeing the young girl looking so at peace. “I-I'm okay, Maxine” she whispered, wiping her eyes. “How about you come back to my place and we can order take out? It is getting dark”  
“O-okay” Maxine nodded agreeably and stood, still holding the sleeping child in her arms


	7. Penthouse

“This is a nice place you have here, Vic” Maxine looked around the huge open plan living area. She took note of the small kitchen table and the most expensive kitchen she had ever seen, the art on the walls all looked unique and like they each cost multi-million dollars  
“My father paid for it for me” Victoria replied, they were in a penthouse toward the top of one of the skyscrapers in Los Angeles. “Initially he was disappointed that I wouldn't be a world class photographer but he later decided that being social worker was very... noble and he did what he could to help me get qualified and paid for this place”  
_Wowsers... It took me a whole night of ATM rewinds to get enough to buy a small apartment... I could’ve rented I guess but I had to have a place to call my own_. “That was really kind of him” Maxine had carried an exhausted Chloe back to Vic's car and had held her all the way back to the apartment after she began to squirm and fuss. _Is this really my reincarnated best friend?_ “This place is real nice, Vic”  
“Thanks, Maxine” 

Vic had taken Chloe to bed once they had arrived at the safety of their home and was now sat with Maxine in her open plan living room, dining area and kitchen that overlooked the city. Max could see the building where her penthouse was, her apartment unlike Vic's was mostly paid for by the commissions and orders she had gotten for her photography under the guise of her agent. Occasionally, she was asked to attend important events such as weddings and the like, in those circumstances where she could be seen as a woman she left out her agent’s name and instead used yet another pseudonym, her last name often being an exotic butterfly species. “What about you? Does the Blue Butterfly live somewhere paid for by the city with a hotline to the mayor's office and a key to the city?”  
“No actually” Max rolled her eyes at the assumption that her heroics would result in her getting everything for free. “I live a simple enough life at home... But the money to pay for my apartment came from my photography and not a key to any city in sight” _Not that I’d deserve one anyway..._  
“You’re also a photographer?” _Of course she is..._ “Had I seen your name anywhere, Maxine I would've come running. Me and the Vortex Club have been looking for you since you disappeared that day”  
“I use my agent’s name or a pseudonym through which I publish my photography. They're... Popular enough I guess?”  
“What’s the name?”  
“Huh?”  
“The name of your agent?”  
“Oh, it's Thomas Adams”  
“Wait... Thomas Adams? That's _your_ photography?! The Chase Space have about half of all your shots up in the gallery! It was _yours_ and for years I've never even realized it was?! Maxine, I'm so sorry...” Victoria had teared up and was sat a sobbing and shaking mess near Maxine who was watching with a profound amount of guilt visible on her face. She had been so intent on fleeing she hadn't stopped to think how it would affect others  
“I-I’m sorry, Vic” Maxine whispered. “You have nothing to apologize for, I however do. I fled Arcadia Bay without even letting Warren know”  
“Oh, that kid stuck around the Vortex Club Facebook a lot, he was our most avid sharer of any news to do with you”  
“I regret running away like that even though at the time it was the best thing for me” Maxine whispered, holding out her hand, questioning if it was okay for her to put her arms around her  
Vic nodded and Maxine did so. “I do have one question that you can either answer or say no to but... What happened?”

Maxine was reminded of her reasons for fleeing her hometown as soon as Vic asked that simple question that was in no way simple to answer. “Vic, how long do you have to talk?”  
“All night. Can't guarantee we won't be disturbed by Chloe though, why?”  
“If I start telling you I won't want to stop until I've told you the entire miserable tale”  
Vic was visibly disturbed by something in Maxine's eyes. “What miserable tale?”  
“The truth about the hell I went through for a week, the hell that led me into even worse hell. The mistake that I'm still attempting to find a way to fix even now, the week that never was”  
“Week that never was... Maxine, do you need to...”  
“Victoria. You have to understand, this isn't something I share lightly, I'm going to sound crazy for the most part but... By the time I finish, I hope you'll understand, and also see that I'm telling the truth.”  
“Go on...”  
“Vic, I can r-rewind time...”


	8. Confessions

_Has Maxine taken her meds today?_ “You can rewind time??” Vic's eyes were bulging slightly, trying to mask her disbelief knowing that Maxine was trusting her not to judge her  
“Yeah, I bet you're thinking I'm bat shit insane right now...” Maxine mumbled nervously, her left leg bouncing up and down  
“Who me? Never.” _Fucking hell, I knew Chloe's death had hit her hard but..._  
“Yeah, you are. Don't worry, I'm used to it. You won't remember this conversation anyway so...” Maxine trailed off halfway through the sentence  
“What do you mean?” Vic tilted her head slightly  
“I'm going to rewind this conversation” the rainbow-haired girl stated firmly

“MAAAAAAX!!” Chloe screamed from her room before Max had the chance to actually rewind  
“What the fuck?!” Maxine leaped up and ran out of the room, following Chloe’s screams. “Chloe!! Chloe!!” Maxine barged through Chloe's door and ran up to her.  
“M-Max...” Chloe stuttered, shaking. Vic followed Maxine into the bedroom with a worried expression on her face  
“Chloe, what's wrong?” Vic attempted to soothe Chloe while she clung to Maxine  
“I-I had another dream, Vic” The small child shook uncontrollably in Maxine's arms, burying her head into her shoulder  
Vic sighed and held on to Chloe as she shook, her head buried into Maxine's shoulder. “You're safe, Chloe” the blonde turned to Maxine, “Chloe has these dreams... Like last night's was her foot stuck in a railroad track”  
“I remember that...” Maxine mumbled  
“You... Remember it?” Vic whispered, unsure if she has heard that correctly  
“Yeah... I remember it. Nobody else does of course cos it happened in the week that never was”  
“The week that never was?”  
“Yeah, my time travel led to me and Chloe experiencing a week that nobody else did, that since I reset the timeline, Chloe wouldn't remember. I don't know how this Chloe knows all that but... somehow she does”

“Tell me the whole fucking story” Vic requested and so Maxine did. Chloe clung to the older girl as she told the whole story, of how two children met eighteen years beforehand, how they had spent their entire childhood together. How Max was a timid shy little girl and even back then, how similar the young Chloe, her Chloe was to the little blue-eyed girl sat in her lap and clinging to her neck.  
“Both Chloes are little shits” Max giggled with amusement at how similar those girls were.  
“Oh, I can imagine how bad your Chloe was” Victoria was amused

“Mhm,” Maxine settled down again, revealing the trauma both girls had gone through with William’s death, how it had broken both girls, how the distance that was forced upon the pair had torn both of their worlds apart. Both struggling to come to terms with what had happened, they had both lashed out and had hurt the other with empty words they didn't really mean and had resulted in neither of them being able to remain in contact for long though Chloe did try. Then came the silence, five long hard years of it. “Over eighteen hundred days, Vic.” Max had counted each and every single one, “over two million seconds apart, two million seconds too many”  
“Oh my god” Vic wrapped her arms around the grieving woman. “Maxine, you've been through so much.” She didn't believe the part about time travel, _who would?_ she had reasoned.  
“Finally, I came back to Arcadia but was too scared to reach out, if only I had... If only.” Max went quiet for a long time, Chloe had fallen asleep in Max's arms at some point in that last silence. “I fucking miss her so fucking much”  
“I know... I can tell”  
“I had the opportunity to go back and save her” Maxine had admitted, cautiously, nervously  
“Why didn't you?”  
“Because the town would've been obliterated if I had. You might have died, Chloe's mother, Joyce would've died. Alyssa, Taylor, Courtney... They could have all died”  
“Ah” _Holy shit!! I take back my earlier statement, also you are bat shit insane_  
“And I was willing to do it too, willing to kill them all just so Chloe could stay with me, stay alive” Max whispered, ashamed  
“Oh” what else could be said to an admission like that?  
“The only reason I didn't was because of Chloe. She begged me to let her die to save the others, the entire town. She was the savior of Arcadia Bay.”  
“I never even realized”  
“That’s just the point, Vic. Nobody knew, not even Joyce and David, Chloe's mother and stepfather”  
“Oh my god, poor Chloe” it was Vic’s turn to be ashamed and she hung her head in the shame, she had been so horrible to Chloe throughout her time at Blackwell. _We've gotta do something about this, something, anything._


	9. Ugh. Too early

“Max!!!” the four-year-old jolted upright, screaming, only to get no answer. She had been absolutely certain that she had gone to sleep in Maxine's arms so where was she?!  
“Chloe?” Vic slid open the door to the child's room and entered in a state of undress that would’ve been embarrassing for her, had Maxine still been around. The twenty-three-year-old pixie blonde had been in the bathroom but, being used to having to rush places, she had been able to get out of the shower, wrap a towel around herself and sprint over to Chloe's room in record time. “Chloe, you okay?”  
“Where’s Max??” Chloe asked her eyes wide and frantic, almost fearful  
“Sweetie, she had to go home.” Vic attempted to speak in a calm, soothing voice despite knowing that it wasn't likely to work. Chloe occasionally had near panic attacks like that. “She would've come to say goodnight to you but she didn't want to disturb you”  
“I wanna see Maxi!!” Chloe was beginning to get even more worked up and frantic as it became apparent to her that Max wasn't there  
_Maxi?_ “But Chloe she's busy” Vic spoke in the same calming voice, though she was starting to worry that the child was going to have a full on panic attack  
“Fuck you” Chloe exclaimed angrily, sounding more and more like that blue-haired rebel Vic had hated so much. “I wanna see Maxi!!” The girl pouted like a spoiled child, she really wasn't holding back to attempt to persuade Vic to go try to find Maxine  
“Chloe!!” Vic exclaimed in exasperation at the child’s crazy antics. _Maybe it would just be easier to persuade the 'Blue Butterfly' to adopt this wild child_. She watched as Chloe leaped about on her bed, half having fun half utilizing her energy and channeling it into something she did exceptionally well; throwing a tantrum. 

The young girl hurled herself off of the bed and landed, faceplanting the floor with a loud thud. Fortunately, the carpets were thick, brand new and had extra thick layers of padding under them, just in case. As such, Chloe just brushed off the rather large bump she would have otherwise received and instead of clambering back on to her bed she decided to sprint for the open door and make her escape. “Bye-bye, Queen Vic!!”  
_I haven't been called that in years... How would..._ Vic shook her head and gave chase to the fleeing child, subbing her toe on the kitchen unit as she passed. “Fuck shit fuck bitch!!” _Cunt!!_

Chloe giggled from by the front door to the penthouse, leaping up to attempt to grab the doorknob so she could open the door to get out having not realized that Vic had locked the door in anticipation of the troublemaker’s escape attempts. “Damn!”  
“Chloe!! Stop!!” Vic hobbled into view, swearing under her breath. “You can't go out there, it's only five in the morning! It's too fucking early!”  
“I wanna go find Max!” Chloe's pout was back, her lower lip sticking out an extraordinary amount for such a small child  
“Chloe, Maxine is busy!!” Vic sounded exasperated, five in the morning was too early. She often woke at six in order to get to her office, the Department of Children and Family Services but five was too early  
“Then we can surprise her at work!!” Chloe exclaimed  
“Chloe,” Vic sighed, “do you even know what the Blue Butterfly does for a living?”  
“My Maxi is a superhero pirate!!”  
“How... How do you know that?” once again, Vic was perplexed by Chloe's knowledge of Maxine's life, despite only having met her hours beforehand  
“That's what Max has always been...?” Chloe stated it as if Vic was being completely stupid as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “She was my best friend. We will always be best friends, Vic, just like Max always has been my best friend”  
“Do you know what Chloe used to call herself?” Vic questioned, having a sneaking suspicion. “Maxine never spoke about her to me before tonight”  
“Bluebeard, of course!!” Chloe exclaimed excitably  
“So... Wait... There's a Bluebeard vigilante here in LA!” Vic finally put two and two together and her mouth dropped with the realization  
“Vigilante?”  
“Like a cop but not a cop, they fight against the bad guys, criminals and so on, but they do it alone and outside the law” Vic explained quickly  
Chloe's intelligent eyes lit up with understanding. “I understand, Vic”  
“Maxine... Is Bluebeard, the vigilante of LA... Whoa” for a few seconds, Vic was speechless. “Wonder how that harmless hipster waif I knew at Blackwell has become Maxine, not only the 'Blue Butterfly' but Bluebeard, the infamous modern pirate?!” Bluebeard was somewhat an urban legend in Los Angeles who was guilty of causing the merciless downfall of a number of massive companies that were either corrupt or did something incredibly morally wrong like knowingly using child slavery somewhere within their company. She tended to focus on destroying the companies that befell her ire while doing minimal harm to the employees of the company, unless they were in some way involved in child abuse or trafficking, then all deals were off.  
“Max can control time” Chloe explained as if she knew what Vic was thinking  
“How do you know that? Like seriously”  
“She told me”  
“But you never met her before today and you and she haven't been alone”  
“She told me four years ago”  
_What the fuck...?_


End file.
